Lewis started with $5 worth of bitcoin that he was gifted as part of research a few years ago, when he thought he might want to write about bitcoin. “I just wanted to understand it,” Lewis says. To educate himself, he spent half a day in “a den of bitcoin enthusiasts in Silicon Valley.”

Lewis wanted to know, “Am I going to be able to spend this stuff?” The experts told him yes, and got Lewis set up with a digital wallet and $5 in bitcoin. The group then took him to buy a cup of coffee with bitcoin in Palo Alto.

“It was a disaster,” Lewis shares. “Of course it didn’t work. I said, ‘Why don’t you call me when I can buy something with bitcoin,’ and I kept the $5 on my phone.”

With bitcoin now trading above $7,000, Lewis’ balance is still sitting in the same digital wallet, and has swollen to $378.

No story, no book, no cup of coffee, but as Lewis notes: “The bitcoin is now more valuable than my phone.”